CHAPTER ONE
PENNY
“Iwant to slow things down.”
I pause with my glass of wine halfway to my mouth as I stare at David.
“Excuse me?”
He sighs, sitting back in his chair. “Look, Pen, I like you, lord knows you’re gorgeous, but things are just moving too fast for me.”
“Too fast? This is our third date in three weeks, how exactly is this too fast?”
He stabs his fork into a piece of pasta on his plate before replying. “I just don’t think we’re at the same stage of life, we aren’t looking for the same things.” He shoves the ravioli into his mouth as I frown at him.
“I’m confused. Your dating profile said you are looking for a long-term relationship. Have you changed your mind, or do you just not see that with me?”
He sighs again, as if talking to me is draining him. “Honestly Pen, you’re ready to get married and have babies tomorrow, but I’m not ready for that yet.”
My mouth opens and closes for a moment before I rein in mythoughts. “I only asked if you were interested in those things, so I knew if this could go somewhere. I’m not expecting a proposal tomorrow, David. We haven’t even fooled around yet, let alone slept together.” I throw my arms out to the side in exasperation.
“On our last date, you basically proposed to me.”
My jaw drops in shock. “I did not!”
“You did.”
“I only asked if you could see yourself marrying me.” He raises his eyebrows at me, as if I proved his point. “What?!”
“You didn’t think it was a bit soon to ask me that?”
“You’re here now, aren’t you? So, you know I’m not some marriage crazed woman.”
“You told me we’d make cute babies together.”
“So what? We would!” What was his problem? I thought he wanted kids.
“It was our second date.”
“So what? I don’t want to waste my time. I’ve been led on too many times by guys who don’t want to take things seriously.”
“I just would rather chill a bit and see where things go.”
“So, the point of bringing me to this restaurant tonight wasn’t because you were going to ask me to be exclusive?” I try to keep the hurt from my voice, but I’m sure he hears it.
“You—Shit, sorry, Penny, I didn’t think you’d be expecting that tonight.” He leans forward and grabs my hand, clutching it between us on the table. “I do like you, can we just take things slow, see where this leads us?” I search his eyes for the truth and let out a breath as I sit back.
“Sure, David, we can do that.” He smiles at me before releasing my hand, leaning back in his chair, and resuming his meal.
I pick up my fork and push my spaghetti around on my plate, thinking over his words. Why do all the guys I meet not want anything serious? Is there something about me that isn’t wife or girlfriend material?
I have had several boyfriends over the years. At twenty-six, it’s hard not to have had any serious relationships. But using the word ‘serious’ is a bit of a stretch. I’ve had three relationships where we got to the boyfriend/girlfriend stage. We were monogamous, but as soon as I implied I was looking for something more, they bailed.
My longest relationship was nine months, I didn’t think that was too early to talk about moving in together. Apparently he disagreed. The next longest was four months and when I made a comment about looking forward to having kids in the future, he immediately started getting weird, and ended it within two weeks. The last relationship ended last year, and it only lasted for three months. I really liked Elijah and saw a life with him, but apparently he didn’t think the same.
It was the reason I had decided to meet guys on a dating app. I could specify guys looking for marriage and kids and weed out the players. But apparently even that doesn’t work for me. David is the third guy I’ve met on it, and none of them have resulted in anything even close to a relationship.
I glance up at David, who’s playing on his phone while he eats. Is it my imagination or is he swiping right on his phone a lot right now? I tilt my head and narrow my eyes as I watch him carefully. I see a small smirk on his lips each time he swipes right. I don’t believe it, is this asswipe really on a dating app right now?
